Combination apparatus for actuating whistle and bell signals



L Aug. 18,1925."

- 1,549,824 A; I; WQODRING YCOMBINATIONQAPPARATUS FOR AGTUATING WHISTLE AND BELL SIGNALS Filad June 23, 1924 2 Sheets-Shat 1 I; Fig} 1.

InbntOr: AMI. Woodringu Attorney.

Aug. 18", 1 925. 1,549,824 I .7 A. I. WOODRING CQMBINATION APPARATUS FOR ACTUATING WHISTLE AND BELL SIGNALS Filed June 23 1924 2 Sheets-Sheet -2 v A I. Waodri'ng. 5g

Patented f ing. l6,

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ALBERTO TI. WOODRING, OF WATERLOO,

IOWA, ASSIGNOR 'IO NATIGNAL SAFETY DEVICES COMPANY, OF WVATEELOO, IOWA.

CGIVEBINATION APPARATUS FOR ACTUATING WHISTLE AND BELL SIGNALS.

Application filed June 23, 1924. Serial No. 721,900.

whistle signal to be opera ed intermittently, the means for operating the bell signal be ing so contrived as to render the action thereof more positive, ready and complete for proper eilicient employment during and after the period of the intermittent whistle actuations.

This invention also includes an improvement of the specific apparatus of my prior invention for the above purposes, which was patented under No. 1,430,273, Septemberfiii, 1922.

l have accomplished the above object by the means which are hereinafter described and claimed, and which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. 1 is a front elevation of my said apparatus with parts broken away. Fig. 2 is a vertical section of the operating valve. Fig. 3 is a view, partly in longitudinal vertical section, I .and partly in elevation, of the valve-chamber. Fig. 4 IS a detail sectional view of a portion of the wall of the power'relay motor and the check-valve in the communication to said valve-chamber, Fig. 5 is a vertical section of the starting motor and power-relay motor and adjacent structures taken on' the broken line of Fig. 6, and Fig. 6 is a vertical section of the same parts taken at an angle of ninety degrees from the section of Fig. 5 and taken on the broken line 5-5 of said figure, both said 5 and 6 being on a larger scale than Fig. 1.

This apparatus is designed to be employed upon a locomotive or upon a vehicle having thereon a source of fluid under pressure, such as compressed air or otherwise. The whistle signal is adapt-ed to be intermittently actuated in apredetermined manner by certain mechanism included in the apparatus,

and may be actuated thus without a bell signal adjunct, as is described and claimed in the said patent. When the bell signal is included in the combination, the construction is the same as shown in said patented device but including means for automatically regulating the action of the bell motor to strengthen and prolong the operation thereof during the period of time when the whistle signal is being intermittently actuated but also for a certain time after such actuations as will be described.

According to the required practice, a locomotive or any motor-propelled vehicle appreaching a highway on a railway must have the whistle sounded in advance of the crossing with a determined signal of differently timed and lengthened blasts.

It is usually necessary to also sound the bell signal, and it is preferable to keep the bell ringing for a time after cessation of the whistle signal. My improved apparatus perfectly accomplishes these results.

The apparatus includes a whistle opersolo by air, steam or any other fluid, and

also includes a bell operated by a motor actuated by any of said fluids, the'bell69 thus being actuated by the motor 68, and the motor being supplied from a source of such fluid, for example a reservoir 11 by means of con uits 67 and 56 with an intermediate valve-chamber 55.

The whistle is intermittently actuated as follows. 7

A body having a spring-barrel Q'Yhas means for supporting it upon some fixed structure. Above and below said springbarrel are integral cylinders ll and 14 which with contained devices are respectively a power-relay motor and starting motor. A rockhaft 23 extends centrallythrough the spring-barrel to project therefrom, and has an apertured disk 21 mounted loosely thereon but adjustingly engaged with a smaller member 22 fixed on the end of the shaft by a dentated element removably mounted on the disk and meshing with detents on the disk 22. The disk 21 has a hub mounted-on said shaft, and the shaft is'mounted in bearings in said body. The edge of thedisk 21 has spaced detents on its circumference, andarranged to provide relativelywide detents 25 followed by a pair of like relatively short detents 26.

The dish 21 has a hub member mounted upon the shaft 23, and a coiled spring 28 is end-connected between said hub and the inner wall of the barrel 2?. As shown in Fig. 6, a dash-pot 29 is formed in said body with a cranked part 30 of the shaft 23 rotatable therein. Upon a pitman 31 pivoted on the crank and at its lower end within the dashpot is a fitting plunger 32 having a passage 33 therethrough from top to bottom and containing a caged ball-check 34. Oil may be placed in the dash-pot, so that the plunger is dampened against it in moving downwardly to thus dampen the actions of the spring-controlled shaft 23 and its disk 21.

A depending arm 36 is swingingly mounted on the end of a fixed bracket 35, and on this arm is pivoted for limited movements another arm 38 bifurcated to seat a small roller 39 which is positioned in the path of rotation of the detents 25 and 26, so that in rocking downwardly said detents swing said roller 39 and the arms 38 and 36 away from the disk 21, but on the return movement of the disk when released the detents swing upwardly the arm without rocking the arm 36. Integral with the arm 36 but projecting oppositely from its pintle is a finger 40.

The disk 21 is rocked downwardly by the following means.

In the cylindrical chamber 14 is a plunger 15 made imperforate and preferably having a packing cup, both fixed on one end of a stem 17 which is passed outwardly through an aperture in the cylinder-head. A dampening coil spring 16 is mounted about the stem 17 loosely. A connectingrod or link 19 is pivotally connected to the projecting end of the stem 17 at 18, and to the disk 21 at 20. The cylinder 14 has an inlet-port 13 communicating by a conduit 1210 with a port 9 in an operating valvechamber 2.

he chamber 2 has an oppositely positioned port 8 in communication by way of a pipe 78 with a hollow in the lower part of the body, while the port 9 leads into another hollow in the upper part. A passage communicates between said hollows and seats vaned guides on the stem 6 of a valve-head 7, the latter being in the lower hollow, while a spring around the valve-stem below the valve keeps the latter yieldingly upon its seat to close the passage. The upper portion of the valvestem 6 is coned to fit a coned depression in a packed plunger 5 in the upper hollow. "he plunger 5 has an upright stem 4 which passes through an aperture in the valve casing, and this stem and the plunger are centrally hollowed or bored with an opening outward of the casing at an angle. An operating lever 1 for manual use is pivoted at 3 to a bracket on the casing 2 and has a cam edge to work against the rounded upper end of said stem 4 to depress the latter closing the upper end of its bore.

The upper cylinder 41 has in the left hand part of its hollow a fitting packed plunger 70, imperforate, and fixed on the inner end of a squared stem 72 and a coiled spring 71 is engaged between said plunger and the adjacent head of the cylinder. The right-hand end of said cylinder has a plug 46 cored out centrally to provide chambers 50 and 44 communicating by a passage and coned valve-seat to which a valve-head 48 is fitted, whose stem projects oppositely therefrom into said chambers. A screwplug is fitted into the left-hand end of said bore and a spring is coiled about the stem between the head of said valve and said plug. An end or cap nut is fitted upon the outer end of the plug 46 and centrally apertured to seat a tubular body raving a seat fitting the rounded end of the stem 47, the outer end of the passage through said body being directed downwardly angularly without the nut, and the said body being slidable therethrough. A wear-head 42 is threaded upon the outer end of said body and secured thereto to receive. pushing engagements of the said linger 40. The plug 46 has a bypass 45 leading from the hollow 44 into the hollow 51 of the cylinder.

branch pipe of the conduit 78 which communicates with the tank 11. The port 52 in the cylinder wall leads from the hollow 51 to the pipe 53 thence to the valve-chamber hollow 57 in the body part 54. A ball check-valve 77 controls the port 52 with spaced stop 76.

A valve-chamber is provided to contain differential valves 58 and 60, being of two different diameters, the part- 54 of larger diameter containing an imperforate plunger 58 of the floating type, the smaller valvehead 60 being coned to lit a coned valveseat 61 in the smaller body part 55. The valve 60 has a stem part, vaned and terminally cylindrical, the latter part fitting a cylindrical aperture in the septum between the body parts 55 and 54 to project into the larger hollow 57 toward the plunger 58. The left-hand part of the stem at 63 has a spring 64 coiled therearound and engaged between the valve-head and the adjacent closed head of the chamber. A port 65 leads from the chamber 62 to the left of the valve 60 to.a pipe 56 in communication with the tank 11. A port 66 leads from the intermediate hollow controlled by said valve 60 to the pipe 67 which communicates with the motor 63 for the bell G9.

The valve or plunger stem 72 has at its outer extremity a pivotal connection with one end of a connecting-rod 7 3 whose other end is pivoted to the depending end of the operating arm 74 of the whistle 75.

A port 49 in the plug 46 leads into the hollow 50 from 29 Operation: When the operator depresses the valve-handle 1 the plunger-stem 4 is forced down to close the upper opening of its bore while the gap between the plunger 5 land the lower stem 6 is closed and the valve 7 Il'owered which :opens communication between the ports 8 and 9., whereby compressed air :passes from the tank 11 through the conduits 110 12 into the lettha'nd hollow of the lower cylinder 14 to force the plunger 15 to the right while, by means of the stem '17 land connecting-rod 19, the disk 21 is rocked downwardly to the left the 'deten-ts 25 and :26 passing successively by and thrusting out upon the roller 39 and swinging the arms -3183.6 1130 the right to cause the finger 40 to slide the wear-body 42 to the left closing the :bore 43. It will be understood that the detents 25 will hold the levers :38.86 longer than the shorter detents 126 so :that the intervening mechanisms willactuate the whistlesigna'l with two two second blasts followed by two one second blasts, the blasts "all separated by like intervals. The evenness of movement of the disk 21 is preserved under the actuations of the arms 383'6 by the dampening oi the plunger in the dash-pot overcoming the varying action of the spring 28 thereon.

The movement of the part 42 to the left closes the inner endioi :the bore 43 lELllCl ,pushes theistem 47 .andwalve 48 to the left to permit compressed .air to flow from the port 49 and hollow 50 to the hollow 44 and bypass 45 to the hollow 151, thus thrusting the plunger 70 past the portJ521and operating the whistle lever. When the operator releases the operating handle 1, the spring returns the valve-head 7 closing communication between the ports 8 and The residua'l air pushes up the plunger'oand stem 4 to open the upper end of its boreiand exhaust said residual air to theatmosphere by "way of the gap between the plunger and the top of the lower valve-stemfi. The said residual air is that contained also in the left-hand part or" the lower cylinder 14, so that the spring 28 returns the vplunger to the left *as the released disk 21 is rocked reversely to its *first position, with the detents 25 and26 passing the roller.39 and arm 38 idly. As the finger 4O releases the wearhead 42, the reaction of the spring in the hollow 50 returns the valve 48 to its seat to out 01f communication between the hollows 50 and 44. The air in the hollow 51 exhausts to the atmosphere by way of the bypass 45, hollow 44 and bore 43, and the plunger is returned by the reaction of the spring 71.

In order to operate the bell signal 69 continuously and strongly or evenly and without any variations of air pressure during the actuations of said whistle signal intermittently by the spaced detents 25 and 26 on chamber hollow 57 said disk 21, and further to insure the continued ringing of said bell for a short time after the cessation of said whistle soundings, I have incorporated my co1nbination bell and whistle si nalin coaratus an automatically acting diiierential valve mechanism, as follows:

This is the two-part valve-chamber shown in section in said Fig. 3. When air under pressure is admitted into the hollow 51 of the upper cylinder 41 as the disk 21 is operating the valve-head 48, and the whistle is being sounded intermittently, the check-valve 77 is opened and :air passes through the conduit 53 to the hollow 57 oi said valve-chaniber pressing the plunger 58 against the stem 59 of the valve-head 60 to shift the latter open and permit air under full pressure to pass from the tank 11 past said valve-head into the port66 and by way 01" the pipe 67 to the ibell-motor 68, thus ringing the bell 69 simultaneously with the actuations of the whistle. It will be observed, however, that as the air pressure in the cylinder hollow 51 is used simply and oniy to actuate said plunger 58 and valvebO which requires but little force, the operation of the latter parts has no effect on the air pressure transmitted through the valve chamber to said bell-motor. The latter is thus permitted to actuate with tull air pres sure at all times, and does not drain away appreciably any-air from the cylinder 1101- low 51, .so that the whistle actuation is not aiiected.

It is desirable that the bell-motor be actuated for a relatively short time after the said whistle signals cease in approaching. This is effected satisfactorily by my new valve combination. :When the disk 21 returns to its initial position after the actuation of the whistle signal as above described, and the valve 48 becomes seated while residual air exhausts by way of the passage 43, the residual air in the valveand the conduit 53 closes the check-valve 77, but as the couplings between the valve-chamber and said cylinder 41 are purposely left somewhat pervious to the passage of air slowly therethrongh, the residual air in said hollow and conduit slowly exhausts through said pervious joints, so that the return of the plunger 58 and the valve 60 is delayed for a short time, so thatair cancontinue to be 1 by the superior air pressure on the valve 60.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is:

1. In combination, a signaling device including a movable operating element, a fluid-actuated motor for moving said element, to operate said device, a source of fluid supply under pressure, a valve-chamber in communication with and between said source of fluid supply and said motor, said valve-chamber having a valve-seat intermediate said communications, a valve fitting said valve-seat, said valve-chamber having a hollow expansion, a floating plunger fitting said expansion and of larger area than the area of said valve, the outer partof the hollow of said expansion being under controllable independent communication with said source of fluid supply, and manually operable mechanism for controlling the delivery and exhausting of said fluid to and from said communication, to thereby cause the plunger to move the valve from its seat because of differential pressure, said independent communication from said source of fluid supply to said chamber part containing said plunger having a relatively small exhaust vent for exhausting residual fluid under pressure after an actuation of the plunger to open said valve.

2. In combination, a signaling device, a fluid-actuated motor for operating it, a source of fluid under pressure in communication with said motor, a valve-chamber included within said communication and having a resiliently-controlled valve and a larger imperforate differential plunger to at times engage and open said valve, an independent means of communication between said valve-chamber and said source of fluid supply, and means for manually controlling the delivery to and exhaust from said valvechamber of air derived from said independent means of communication.

3. In combination, a signaling device, a fluid-actuated motor there-for, a source of fluid under pressure in communication with said motor, a valve-chamber in communication independently at opposite ends with said source containing unconnected differential valves, and means for manually controlling one of the valves to cause them each in turn to actuate the other in the regulation of transmission of said fluid to the motor, said means including a small exhaust vent in one of said communications.

4. In combination, a source of fluid supply under pressure, a whistle signaling device, said device being in communication with another source of fluid supply under pressure, a bell-signaling device, a fluid op erated motor therefor, mechanism for intermittently actuating said whistle signaling device including a starting motor and a power-relay motor in respective communication with the first-n'ientioned source of fluid supply, an actuating motor for said bell signaling device in communication independently with said iirstanentioned source, an operating-valve in independent communication with said first-mentioned source and with said starting motor, .operative devices between said starting motor and said powerrelay motor to actuate said whistle signaling device, an automatically operated diflerential valve pair in the communication between said bell motor and said first-mentioned source of fluid under pressure in which the valve of smaller area controls said communication and the larger valve of the pair is controlled by fluid admitted to and exhausted from its communication with fluid under pressure in said power-relay motor, the latter communication having a relatively minute exhaust vent and a check-valve in the latter means of communication.

5. In combination, a whistle signaling dcvice, a bell signaling device, a source of fluid under pressure, a motor in controlled communication with said source operatively connected to the whistle signaling device, a motor in controlled communication with said source operatively connected to the bell signaling device, a differential-valve chamber communicating at opposite ends respectively with the communications of said motors to said source, and differential, valves in unconnected relation in said valvechamber adapted for mutual interaction to control the communication from said source to said bell motor, the communication from the valve-chamber to said source by way of the whistle-operating motor having a relatively small exhaust vent for delaying exhaust of fluid under pressure therefrom sutflciently to permit actuation of the bell motor for a time after the cessation of actuation of the whistle motor.

Waterloo, Iowa, June 6, 1924.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

ALBERTO I. VVOODRING. 

